Summary of this thread:
Having just completed a couple of dozen charts for a project, I had this error message as well. Here are the situations that trigger it:
- @troyh5226751 describes the most common problem: an override on the axis value. This usually happens when you copy/paste a chart to use as a base for a new one. Before adding the data to the new chart, select the base chart, right-click on Type, and UNcheck the axis value. Then, after you add the new data into the chart, you can adjust the axis value to suit your needs. See @troyh5226751 's screen capture in this thread.
- Commas, currency symbols, percent signs, spaces, and other symbols are in your data fields.
The Illustrator chart tool is an ancient module dating from 1993. It's very limited in what it can do. Unlike modern programs like Excel, Illustrator's chart module can't interpret these symbols. Ensure that only digits, the hyphen/minus sign, and the period/decimal point are in your values. Examples:
- $1,000.25 = 1000.25 with the prefix set to $ on the axis value.
- €3.50 or 3,50 € = 3.50 with the prefix/suffix set to € on the axis value.
- 45.5% = 45.5 with the suffix set to % on the axis value. Note that decimal percentages (0.455) might throw off your chart. I found it more accurate to convert all forms of percentages to whole numbers, such as 10, 20, 30 rather than 0.10, 0.20, or 0.30.
- Negative numbers: (1250.00) = -1250.00
- European decimal commas such as €12,10 or 12,10€ (12 euros and 10 cents) will need to be converted to decimal points (12.10) in order to work with this program. Truthfully, I work usually with US/Canadian currencies so my experience with other national currencies is very limited, but I'll assume that it's similar for other world currencies — only periods are allowed. Also Illustrator's chart module was developed before the Euro sign was adopted and doesn't recognize most non-American currency systems.
The charting module is one of the weakest parts of Illustrator. And it's buggy as heck. I couldn't get my Windows 2021 version to work well enough. I moved the same file to Mac Illustrator and was at least able to function.
If Illustrator's quirks, bugs, and limitations can't give you the tools you need, look to other programs (oh no...she's not going to say this in an Adobe forum, is she?!!!):
- Cacidi Charts is an Illustrator plug-in.
- Datylon Graph is another plug-in.
- Pro-quality statistical graphing software (like Tableau) might be overkill, and these programs usually don't have the flexibilty or design controls needed by graphic designers. Plus, the end product might not be suitable for press (file format, color, resolution, etc.).
- And MS Excel is recognized as the most user-friendly, customizable, and powerful graphing programm out there for ordinary users. When saved as a press-quality PNG or PDF, I usually can get something sufficient for digital documents and digital printing at my print shop, but not for pro-quality offset printing.
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